How to control the spaz? so to speak?

Hey everybody! I have a awesome 3 1/2 month old female lab named Maddie. She has been a very good girl except for one thing. She absolutely freaks out when she sees another person or another dog. We take her to puppy school and day care at least once a week, so she has been socializing with other dogs and other people. But when I take her for a walk & she gets anywhere close to another person, she absolutely freaks out with excitement and pulls the leash , jumps up & down and on the person and will not listen to any type of command. It's almost as if she has never seen another person/dog in her life. She goes absolutely mental..... So , my question is , how can I control this behavior? I realize thats she is a puppy and will get excited, but its become almost embarrassing to walk her when I know she will encounter someone else! Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

I taught my dog to sit and watch me, hold a treat in your hand and say watch me if the dog looks elsewhere tempt her with treat again and get her to watch you then when the person has passed treat her. If the person wants to pet her make sure noone touches her until she is sat nicely then treat.

I had this same problem with my now 7 month old chocolate, Java. She weighs 50lbs, I weigh 100 lbs, so when she would pull it was very difficult for me to hold her. She would yank and pull and jump...everything you described, whenever she would see people or another dog. I tried different things suggested on this site, like the sit thing..but she was just too excited and uncontrollable. Finally, after reading a post by Bob, I went out and got a pinch collar. Wow. Huge difference. She does not pull at all anymore when she sees people or dogs. She sits right down and looks at them, then just goes back to what she was doing. It worked the first day I used it. They look like torture devices, but they're not. It fixed the spaz/pulling problem for us.

Please don't use a prong collar on a puppy not even four months old. She's too young to know what is expected of her.

Rope in some cooperative friends to help you out. Have the friends wait at the end of a city block while you get Maddy in a sit. Friend starts walking towards you, as you reward Maddy with small treats for staying seated. If Maddy gets up, starts whining or barking or does anything except sit quietly, your friend is going to stop and immediately turn around and go back to the end of the block. If she holds the sit, friend gets to say hello quietly and then keep walking on. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

NB - you may need to start with her just standing quietly rather than expecting her to hold a sit for that long - she's still a baby.

Baloo was very much the same at that age. How I handled it was with "socialization boot camp" so to speak. Basically, I took him somewhere every single day. For months. We went to every single pet friendly establishment around, we hung out at kids soccer/baseball/football games. We *just happened* to be outside the local school when it was letting out for the day (this was in september) and he was in some sort of class (obedience, agility, rally, etc) for the first year and a bit, non-stop.

My mentality at the time was to introduce him to so many people and other dogs that it became boring, everyday kind of stuff. Nothing to get worked up or all excited over.

Now, at two and a half years old, he's very nonchalant about other people and dogs on our walks, doesn't bat an eye. Walks right on by without a second glance. If someone greets him and stops to pet him he gets excited, but if they ignore him, he ignores them right back. Because they're boring now. He's seen and met so many people and dogs that its no longer an exciting occasion.

KateBaloo - 5 year old black labPeanut - 7 year old minpinMonster - 3-ish year old frenchie/jack, rescue
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